GRAND RAPIDS, MI — In case you hadn’t heard, Kate Upton is (or was depending on when you're reading this) in a Super Bowl ad this year.

For weeks, the Internets have been atwitter with speculation on whether the teaser spot — or, “ad for an ad” — featuring the buxom beauty helping wash a Mercedes-Benz CLA in slow motion would be part of this year’s Super Bowl of Advertising.

In due course, the automaker released another ad, featuring more Willem Dafoe than Kate Upton, igniting speculation as to which spot (both maybe?) would air during the televised Super Bowl broadcast on Sunday.

That talk value is pretty much the whole point, says Grand Rapids advertising agency executive David Kantor of Kantorwassink.

“These ads are not supposed to tell you why you should buy a product. They are to entertain you,” he said. “They have to be entertaining or they fail.”

Does this picture make you want to buy a Mercedes-Benz?Screenshot

Kantor and partner Wendy Wassink have been working in advertising for the last 18 years, both with plenty of Super Bowl advertising work under their belts during time with the firm Leo Burnett in Chicago.

Kantorwassink today sports a client roster that includes Amway, Wolverine World Wide, Steelcase and Ferris State University.

Kantor and Wassink will chat live with MLive readers during a Monday morning ad quarterbacking session open to all who wish to share their thoughts or pick their brains about the good, bad or otherwise forgettable ad lineup for the 2013 Super Bowl.

This year, the conversation has been largely dominated by advertisers who’ve released their ads ahead of the Super Bowl, said Kantor. One need not even watch the game to see most of the ads that will air. They’re already online. "Pregame," so to speak.

Anheuser-Busch InBev released this year's Clydesdale ad early for the first time. The spot follows the birth of a young Clydesdale as he bonds with his trainer. It's one of 4 and 1/2 minutes of ads during the game from the Budweiser team.

Kantor said a lot of advance buzz has surrounded Volkswagon, best known recently for the undeniably cute Darth Vader kid spots. The German automaker has apparently sparked an international debate as to whether a Super Bowl spot featuring an upbeat white American office worker feigning a Jamaican accent is racist or not.

Because ad agencies generally make more than just one spot, Kantor said the automaker could play it safe and run a different ad, but he thinks they wont.

“They are going to take advantage of all the talk,” he said.

Why? Because as soon as that spot airs, social media chatter will light up once again on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere as the world collectively chews over the ad merits amongst their friends and followers.

In fact, expect to see the majority of ads feature some kind of call to engage, whether by visiting the company’s website or following them on social media. The idea is to capture the conversation as a means to generate marketing data.

The Budweiser Clydesdale ad is a perfect example: The spot was debuted alongside a new Twitter account and the company is promoting a contest to name the foal using the hashtag #clydesdales.

“There will be a lot of social media woven into this stuff,” he said. “When you’re spending $4 million on this, you need something to quantify.”

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